Do you believe in unicorns?  It’s a safe bet that you don’t.  After all, unicorns are a myth, and everyone knows it.  But what about “learning styles,” the idea that each person is a certain kind of learner, and learns best when material is delivered to them in their own preferred style of learning?  The concept of learning styles has been around since the first half of the 20th century.  It has had its ups and downs in terms of popularity, but it still hangs around despite the fact that the vast majority of scientific research on the topic has pretty soundly debunked it.

As we’ve discussed in previous articles, microlearning techniques can be extremely useful for a range of training applications.  These include preparing learners for live training events, post-event reinforcement, stand-alone training programs, or performance support.

In previous blogs, we’ve discussed how microlearning can be used to prepare learners for learning events, and as follow-up after learning events.  In this article, we’ll consider how microlearning can be used as stand-alone training.

In the last installment, we explored how to use microlearning techniques to prepare learners for live training events.  But what about after the event?  Can microlearning techniques help learners retain what they learned, as well as perform better in their jobs?  Yes, they can.  Here’s how.

In previous articles, we defined microlearning and we described how long (or short) microlearning materials should be. Now, it’s time to move into application. We previously defined microlearning as short content that could be used as preparation before a learning event, follow-up to support a learning event, stand-alone training, and performance support. Here, we describe how you can use microlearning techniques to prepare learners for longer form, live training events.

“Microlearning” is a huge buzz word in learning and development (L&D) these days.  It seems like everyone is doing it or wants to be doing it.  The problem is, people often have a hard time defining just what “it” is.  In addition, there’s even less certainty around how to use microlearning to make the most positive difference for your organization.